How Liverpool's ball boys helped complete Barcelona miracle | OneFootball

Trent Alexander-Arnold has been hailed as a genius after his quick-thinking saw Divock Origi net Liverpool’s winner over Barcelona.

The Reds, miraculously, came from 3-0 down in the first leg to beat Lionel Messi and co, and book their place in the Champions League final in Madrid next month.

It was the young defender’s brilliant corner that led to the Belgian scoring their fourth, but it wasn’t just a moment of pure instinct.

It was actually a clear plan from Jürgen Klopp that was filtered down to the ball boys at Anfield.

A brilliantly insightful piece in the Independent has revealed how Liverpool’s match analysts had noticed how Barcelona players kept moaning to the referee whenever a set-piece was given agains them in the first leg.

That led to the Blaugrana becoming distracted in those vital first few seconds before a corner, free kick or throw-in was taken.

As such, Klopp asked Liverpool academy coach Carl Lancaster to make the ball boys for Tuesday evening aware of these situations, and asked them to serve the Reds players even quicker than they usually would.

And that’s exactly what 14-year-old Oakley Cannonier did for the Alexander-Arnold corner that led to the winning goal.

It’s all in the details.